What's With All the Ginny Hate

[brokenquill92]

Why is there so much Ginny bashing I understand bashing Ron Dumbledore Molly and Umbridge but why Ginny

[Nahara46]

I never understood Dumbledore or Molly bashing myself, so in the end I think it's a matter of perspective and opinion. Though, I have understood Ginny bashing and have even done it once or twice. (Not a lot, I've come to like her.) Mostly, it's due to the fact that the relationship of Ginny and Harry wasn't very well done. I myself always believed that Ginny and Harry were more in love with the idea of being in love, then actually in love with each other. After all, how perfect would it be to find your true love in the midst of so much chaos? A safe haven?

Then, some people think Ginny was a slut (Which, doesn't make sense as she only had about 3 boyfriends.) Also, occasionally some people think Ginny was an idiot because she never went for help in COS.

[teehee100]

While I can understand why people are calling her an idiot, they need to remember that the diary was a horcrux. So there might of been some sort of cumpulsion to write in it. I agree though, their relationship wasn't done well nor was Ginny well developed. I mean what do we really know about her?

[Nahara46]

And there's the fact she was only eleven.

[Kitty279]

For me it's not so much hate, I just think the relationship wasn't well developed, she came over as a BWL fangirl who couldn't be in the same room with Harry without blushing and all and then *boom* they're in love - that's how it came over for me. There are fanfics out there that do it way better. But I noticed that I get bored with them pretty easily. Somehow the pairing doesn't interest me much most of the time.

[unbeastly]

I like the pairing myself and I like Ginny. Yes the relationship wasn't well done but between his struggles with Voldermort and his friendship with Ron and Hermione his love life was way down on the ladder of overall importance to the series.

As for Ginny herself, she was probably raised listening to fairytales about Harry and her brothers no doubt always made her the heroine in them. I always think of it as the same as Hermione's crush on Lockheart. A lot of people would respond that way to a character from your favourite story come to life. As for later on I think she was probably dealing with a lot of left over issues from the diary and Harry being the one to save her from the chamber probably didn't help. He went from her childhood hero to her genuine Knight in shining armour.

I also don't get why people call her a mini Molly. She is wholly different person and as for her getting away with things she isn't stupid enough to let her mother catch her unlike the twins who want the recognition for their pranks.

[dracosfairmaiden]

I actually like the Harry/Ginny pairing but I hate the way it was done in the books. I feel like the sudden attraction in HBP was too quick. They had like, one conversation, and all of a sudden he's in love with her? That seems to quick. I think the theory of her giving him a love potion is going too far. I do support the pairing if it's written well and they got to know each other.

I do think that Ginny could have been fleshed out a bit more in the series but she's perfect for Harry. She's probably the only one who could understand what he was going through with Voldemort. I like how she's tough and cares for her family at the same time.

I've never understood the Ginny bashing either. Every character has flaws even Harry. She did seem a bit fanboyish at first, with the BWL and the chosen one, but I think she started to see him as Harry.

[werewulfking]

I really like the pairing but the problem with it is that the time in which Harry falls in love with her is not described at all.

In my opinion he notices her more during the DA in OOTP and really gets to know her. In my opinion almost all of the DA members become good friends during the year. At least it seems that way to me. And on that basis Harry and Ginny spend a part of the summer before sixth year together and during that time he really does fall in love with her.

But the Harry Potter books are not that much about a lovely time in the summer with nothing to worry about but about the exiting things that happen during the year. And really a short romance novel at the beginning of HBP would have killed the series.

[Kitty279]

Maybe, but for me it made the whole thing so unrealistic. Would it have been so hard to just mention that he spent more time with Ginny over the holidays and that they got along very well, so the relationship change later on didn't come so out of the blue. She didn't need to describe it in full detail, just a hint here and there would have helped for me already.

[werewulfking]

It is mentioned. The phrase is "he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school"
Although it is not much it tells you that they spent a lot more time with Ginny than in the previous summers.

[Kitty279]

Missed that quote the first time around, it seems, or had forgotten by the time it became somehow meaningful. But then, I hate that book and barely read it. It still seems a bit too little, or are there more of these strewn over the beginning of the book?

[werewulfking]

well there is enough to notice the change in the relationship. But really it is very low key and not at all like the obvious signs towards cho in the beginning.

[unbeastly]

I think the problem was she had so much information on Voldermort to give and evidence of Malfoy's guilt that it got a little lost. Besides I really don't think romance is exactly her strong point nor any real focus of the story as a whole. In some ways it may have been better to leave their relationship alone in the main part and merely have them get together after the war and explain it in the epilogue.

[viralic1]

I've kind of understand the hate, and for me, it really does depend on how she is portrayed.

In one way, I totally understand the psycho/fangirl/lovepotioner Ginny that many people show in their stories, and I do enjoy stories like that.

On the other hand, I also understand stories where it shows Ginny maturing as a person, and then I find I like her character.

Luky14Now's Thanks To A Snake is one example of the 'adult' Ginny that I enjoy, as is Miz636' Becoming Alpha.

[werewulfking]

Well tried to read "Thanks to a snake" and I can only say: Why? I mean it is very poor grammar and it goes of into the story with a greatly change background without an explanation why.
I can understand it of course if the author wants to go in a different direction in the story but no explanation at all? I once read a story where the only explanation for the changes was that Harry couldn't leave the Dursley house until he was eleven. And it worked! Everybody could see the life changing difference between canon and fanon and therefore the different starting conditions were plausible. And here it just throws you into a situation with very bad grammar to boot.

[viralic1]

Thanks To A Snake gets better the farther in, and he does completely explain why Harry's situation changed.

[werewulfking]

Yes perhaps but I won't read a story where the first chapter is just rather awful and I have to force myself to read it.

[readingdeatheater]

Ginny bashing i think is because it goes along with Dumbledore bashing because she is the most likly candiate for a marriage contract and love potions along with Cho. I Personaly don't like her because of the Fan-Girl personality in books one, two and three so does she love harry or is it just because he is her hero and the Boy-Who-Lived.

[G. Novella]

To be honest, I like Ginny when she's developed. Personally, very few pairings I can stand for Harry, and Ginny's one of them. I think anybody paired with Harry would have been hated (besides Hermione maybe, but there's a whole heck of issues in that pair) due to lack of development. Basically, JKR should have skipped the romance, or hired a ghost-writer to do a few chapters.

[Chameleon]

I like Ginny myself. I think she developed, but the way the books went away with it, it was annoying. Alright, you saw small hints beginning in the fifth book. Like Harry liked to spend time with Ginny, forgetting that, that her smell was a part of his Amortentia, and yeah. But the way it started, was ... Grrr. He sees Dean and Ginny make out, and get over jealous.

But I love read fics, where she develops, instead of being stuck in that awe-strung, hero worshiping girl. Where she develops to see Harry for Harry, instead of the Boy-Who-Lived.

[Kitty279]

I can read Harry with a lot of different girls, as long as it is well written - Ginny (if necessary ), Hermione, Luna, Susan, Daphne, Fleur ... But it depends on the writer and proper development. It probably doesn't help that I'm not exactly a romance fan, either.

[Chameleon]

Hahah. I've got a trashy romance shelve. Once in awhile, I'm just into this trashy thing. The thing is, I know they're horrible, but sometimes I just need a little cuddling. But I hate most of the guys and girls, anyway.

[unbeastly]

I still think after the chamber Ginny went from fan-girl over the BWL to having a crush on her knight in shining armour which is a big difference in my mind. I don't thing there's a young girl alive that wouldn't have a major crush on the boy who risked his life for her. Not to mention the blushing and embarrassment is soo much more preferable to fawning like Pansy does over Draco.

Ginny also went out with other people and grew up into a strong woman able to hold her own with Harry. Look at her reaction to Harry breaking up with her and leaving for the Horcuxes. It broke her heart but she accepted his reasons and decision with grace, something few would be capable of doing. She also carried on with the DA and rebelled against the Carrows rule getting her self tortured in the process.

Yes the relationship wasn't handled the best but Harry's relationships with others took precedent. He needed his friends/siblings in Ron and Hermione and his father/uncle/brother in Sirius much more than he needed a girlfriend. I think in the end the only reason JKR gave him a love interest at all was to give him the happy ending with a family of his own which I think is all Harry ever really wanted.

[melissar2]

The phrase is "he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school"
Although it is not much it tells you that they spent a lot more time with Ginny than in the previous summers.

I had forgot about that part as well.
It isn't that I hate Ginny, I just don't know her. The relationship, minus that quote because I had forgotten about it, just came from nowhere for me. Rowling spent time on the whole Harry/Cho thing. There were hints, and then even outright saying things, with Harry/Cho. The date, while a complete disaster, was in the books. Ginny though, she's Ron's little sister for how many books? I understand that he may have started seeing her as a person in her own right during the DA, but less than a year after that and he's in love? There's no hints that he's even interested, other than as maybe a friend, until he sees her and Dean kissing.

Like Harry liked to spend time with Ginny, forgetting that, that her smell was a part of his Amortentia

Was her smell part of his Amortentia? Was her smell ever described?

[werewulfking]

Well a year is a big time gap in which you can easily fall in love. If we go very technical and biological into this matter then it takes less then a second for your body and brain to decide wether there is any real chance or not with a person you meet. But even my parents knew each other for less than two years before they married.
And with Cho there is about as much time built up as with Ginny. The only difference is that they spend much more time together (Harry and Ginny I mean)

[dracosfairmaiden]

That's true. We don't know everything that happens in between books. We don't even know everything that happens in between chapters. Something must have happened overtime that wasn't recorded in the books. This is where fanfiction comes into play.

[Kitty279]

Hopefully properly done in that case. I keep shaking my head how quick some authors put a pairing together. Maybe that's why I don't like most romance there ...

[unbeastly]

True. In fact I tend to hate it when they get together early, it usually means you have to put up with chapters of angst when they break up over something stupid.

[reedygirl]

I personally am not a fan of the Harry/Ginny relationship. I don't hate her character don't get me wrong. But as others have said, I think they got together too quickly. One moment it seemed they were just friends and then he is in love with her. Also i didn't like the fact that she was a fan of him when she was younger. I know some might disagree but i don't think that we got to know her character very well.

[werewulfking]

Well to all the ones who say that we know not much about her character: Your favorite pairing is Harry/Hermione or Harry/Ron isn't it. Because if you look at it no female has more descriptions and insights in her mind then Hermione and Ginny.
And as I said before: The time isn't that short to fall in love with each other. And we just have to accept that the focus of the books was never romance. And as unbeastly said JKR wanted to give Harry a happy ending. And as she had obviously planned for Ron and Hermione to get together much earlier she needed something to balance that out.
I also think that you wouldn't find a girl raised in a magical family that wasn't fan of Harry Potter at some point in her life. Perhaps Pansy but then we don't want to go there.